Thursday, November 12, 2015

Cryptoentomology by Tano Panaligan

A legend of an epidemic when people discover an ancient book about insects. Little did they know the book was of ability of insects in destroying humans. And in all faiths of mankind, people experimented till all was lost by their own hands.

Heed the whirring noise of the distant swarm, an epidemic is signaling its return.

The city has been drowned in the sound of a million buzzing wings singing a brooding, discordant hymn as hexapods march their way out of dilapidated buildings to lurk into every disquiet avenue. All the districts, streets and parks that once radiated life are now shrouded in an eerie sense of decay. Everything has fallen into disrepair.

Disoriented ants creep out of fractured asphalt roads, almost mimicking blood oozing out of the crevices. Blank-eyed Cicadas blurt out their cacophonous songs as they witness the self-disemboweling dance of a thousand mutant bees buzzing around a fluctuating lamppost. The swarm is back; they are never leaving.